Written Answers Thursday 3 July 2008

Scottish Executive

British Sign Language

Cathie Craigie (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to promote British Sign Language among children and young people outwith the deaf community.

Adam Ingram: Voluntary organisations such as National Deaf Children’s Society are represented on the Scottish Government’s British Sign Language (BSL) linguistic access working group. These organisations offer BSL taster classes to children and young people outwith the deaf community.

Central Heating

Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13758 by Stewart Maxwell on 10 June 2008, exactly what criteria were used to make an assessment of the most effective way to continue value for money delivery of its central heating programme.

Stewart Maxwell: The criteria used to decide on an extension to the contract for delivery of the central heating programme included the timing, risks and costs involved. As the future shape of the programme cannot be determined while the review is underway, it was decided not to initiate a full tender process until this is clear.

Children and Young People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote positive perceptions of children and young people in our communities.

Adam Ingram: The Scottish Government works closely with voluntary sector organisations such as Young Scot, the Scottish Youth Parliament and YouthLink to promote positive perceptions of young people and to engage them in decision making at a local and national level. We proactively encourage the celebration and recognition of young people’s achievements in Scotland. Earlier this year the Scottish Government supported the Young Scot Awards hosted by the Sunday Mail , in partnership with Young Scot and Lloyds TSB, which recognised the positive contributions young people are making to their communities.

  We launched Preventing Offending by Young People, a Framework for Action on 19 June. The Framework outlines the need to challenge and change the misrepresentation of young people and offending, especially through the media. Work is currently underway to develop, with stakeholders, a governance structure for delivery against the framework.

  The Scottish Government is also taking forward a review of the national antisocial behaviour strategy. An important part of that review will be to consider ways in which to counter negative stereotyping of young people and promote positive perceptions in communities.

Education

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many pupils with additional support needs have a co-ordinated support plan, broken down by local authority.

Adam Ingram: The number of pupils with additional support needs that have a co-ordinated support plan, broken down by local authority, can be obtained from tables 6.9, 7.5 and 8.6 of the 2007 Pupil Census, available on the Scottish Government website at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/02/25145216/0.

  The 2007 Independent School Census, which is also available on the Scottish Government website reports that there are 41 pupils with additional support needs that have a co-ordinated support plan in independent schools. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/04/29101007/0.

Education

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many pupils with additional support needs who previously had a record of needs do not have a co-ordinated support plan, broken down by local authority.

Adam Ingram: This information is not held centrally.

Education

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many pupils who have been identified as having additional support needs do not have a co-ordinated support plan, broken down by local authority.

Adam Ingram: The term additional support needs applies to children and young people who, for whatever reason, require additional support, long or short-term, in order to help them to make the most of their school education. Therefore, it is not possible to estimate accurately the number of pupils with additional support needs at any given time.

  The legislation, as set out in the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004, does not require all children and young people with additional support needs to have a co-ordinated support plan.

  However, the 2007 pupil census collected information on the number of pupils with additional support needs who have a co-ordinated support plan, an individualised educational programme and/or with provision levels set by a record of needs pre-dating the commencement of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. The 2007 pupil census is available on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/02/25145216/0.

Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all meetings held between it and organisations representing disabled children and their families to discuss the development of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 Amendment Bill, prior to publication of its consultation on the Bill.

Adam Ingram: There has been on-going dialogue with key stakeholders since the commencement of the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (the Act) that has led to a number of proposals for legislative change.

  More specifically, on 18 December 2007, I met with a broad group of stakeholders including Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Independent Specialist Education Advice service, Barnardo’s, National Deaf Children’s Society, Equality and Human Rights Commission, and Children in Scotland to discuss the possible legislative implications of the Court of Session ruling relating to placing requests.

  The review of the act also formed part of the agenda for my meeting with "For Scotland’s Disabled Children" on 20 March 2008.

Further Education Colleges

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many further education colleges are able to provide blind students with Braille support.

Adam Ingram: We do not hold information centrally regarding the provision of Braille support by individual colleges. Any additional support provided to students attending college is based on the individual needs of the student in the context of undertaking a particular course.

  All colleges are expected to meet their statutory duties under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended in 2005) and as such they need to consider their provision for all disabled students. Institutions are expected to meet these duties from their core funding which is allocated by the Scottish Funding Council. Colleges are also allocated additional funding through the extended learning support to support disabled students.

  Once an institution has considered what reasonable adjustments it can make to support a student with a disability and if, having undertaken a needs assessment, a student requires further support and meets the eligibility criteria, disabled students can apply for individual student support. A disabled student studying a further education course can apply for the additional support for learning allowance. This allowance is intended to cover the extra costs or expenses a student may have while undertaking a course which arises because of their disability.